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2017 Draft Analysis
Introduction Sad to say the first bite of the proverbial football sandwich has already been taken. We kept so busy during our off-season that for me it still feels like off-season. But the fact is we are just over a week away from kickoff. We made it. The draft went very well Sunday night (with one small hiccup). I'm happy eight teams showed up (nine if you count Paddock 9's draft as him "showing up"), and I'm pretty sure we've had at least nine each of the last three seasons. Last year Burns had to put his kids to bed at 8 and so he missed the draft. This year the kids' bedtime had been moved to 830 so he got to draft for half an hour. Although maybe he would have been better off just letting the Fantasy Gods take the wheel... No use in explaining what I decided to do for our draft analysis, since it involved all ten of us. So let's dive right in. #KeeperGate I mentioned that we had a little hiccup. For those who aren't up on current events, there was a really annoying computer error and Burns ended up with Shotti's keeper. I don't know how this happened. I even blamed myself for a while. But Shotti's Yahoo writeup actually says (direct quote): "The Shotti Bunch took advantage of their two keeper spots to hold on to LeSean McCoy (6.8 ADP)." In any case, this presented a pretty big issue. While the obvious solution is just give Melvin Gordon back to Shotti, there was that awkward fact that Shotti drafted a guy in his assigned keeper spot. His first proposal was to give up Josh Doctson. I was about to allow this, but after sleeping on it I realized that to give up a 13th round pick for a 9th round keeper that is worth a 1st round pick just doesn't add up. I'm no accountant (I just play one for TV, ba-bum-tsss), but I felt I needed to assert some dominance as the commissioner of this league. Shotti may be the champ, but I'm still the man in charge. Anyway, both parties came to an agreement with zero complaints. Shotti gave up a player of equal draft round value to Burns in exchange for Melvin Gordon and #KeeperGate was luckily resolved without bloodshed. 2017 Draft Analysis Kenzie told me I shouldn't have given you all homework. But I have to say, I think this was a great idea and I'm going to pat myself on the back. Some hard hitting analysis here. I feel like everyone wants it more than ever in 2017, and let's just say I get the impression that there are some rivalries brewing... Each segment below was written by the team manager. I included a short note at the bottom of each. Papa's Posse Let the games begin! I’m pleasantly surprised at my draft results. I thought I made some good choices but some I wasn’t so sure about. I will say that I prepped for this draft more than any other. Pappa’s Posse is ready for battle! I’m not one to question others picks…I clearly know less about players than most of you, but I was shocked that Shotti took Gurley in the first round, with two strong RB’s in his keeper pocket. Then again, who am I to question the LOC legend! And poor Pat, projected to be in the basement again! Probably missed an opportunity by not picking any keepers. If he finishes last I vote for using the league money to get him some therapy. As we all know, the projected results mean shit. You have to be ready for a fight each week and manage your teams for the best advantage. Can’t wait for week one!!! Commish's Comment: Most improved? Papa’s Posse. I think the general consensus was that Papa came prepared. He grabbed his veteran Larry Fitz, but he also turned a new leaf in drafting guys like Christian McCaffrey and Austin Hooper (a decent Mr. Irrelevant if there ever was one). ---- Pain Train WOO WOO I believe I have the best receiving core in the league which includes not one but two PPR monsters in brown and Hill (both projected to get well over 300 points this year). I got one of the top QBs who does nothing but throw to anyone standing in the end zone. Long story short y'all better watch out this train is full steam ahead and it's bringing the pain. How confident am I in my team? I'm guaranteeing a spot in the playoffs this year. Commish's Comment: Pain Train grabbed some great talent throughout but seemed to lack direction. I’d say he has a lot of boom or bust guys. Hogan is the embodiment of that. Hogan will have a 3TD game and a game when he doesn’t make a catch. That’s the Patriot way. I am bummed he grabbed Hill. Love Hill. And if his post-draft actions are any indication, PT is thirsty for a decent TE. ---- Sweet Dee Feeling pretty good about my draft. I was utterly shocked when yahoo gave me a B, but I love being underestimated. Between Julio and Dez I think I’ll be airing it out, not to mention my boy Snead. Big match up week one against the commish. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous...for him. I was a little upset about Pat drafting Forte. He was going to be my next pick, and I love me some Jets. Come to find out Pat also picked up Robbie Anderson which was going to be my next play. So Pat snaking 2 Jets players from me does not sit well. Watch your back Patty cake (cake emoji). Commish's Comment: I personally think LAR defense is going to take a step back this year. Outside of that, I think Dee made some smart decisions, namely not taking any Saints players outside of her keepers. I think her RB situation is going to be rough. ---- Paddock 9 Very solid top to bottom draft for me. I’m happy with all the guys I was able to get (besides Spencer Ware, whom me picking was actually bad). For a team that is very lacking in running back depth I feel great going into the season. Best pick: Gronk in the third Worst pick: Gronk in the third if he gets hurt. We all know the Matt Jinx but the Pat Curse is a much lesser known curse. The Pat curse ensures that one of Patrick's first 4 picks will have a season ending injury within the first 3 weeks of the season. Best draft: shotti Worst draft: chris by 6384747 miles Commish's Comment:'''I think Pat easily had the worst draft. He said it himself, he is worried about RB depth. In the second round, when he could have kept Murray, he instead took Dalvin Cook almost two full rounds above his ADP. In the ultimate irony, Jared used one of Patrick's picks to draft Denver Defense. So not only did Jared get two keepers and three high draft picks from Paddock 9, he also used one of those draft picks to take back the defense he traded away for all that loot. ---- ma ma momma said For a quick recap of the 2017 League of Champions draft, lets look at the draft winners. *Ma Ma Momma Said - Obviously. Best auto draft in the history of auto drafts. Maybe best draft ever. *The League of Champions - Shotti Bunch blows it, drafting Lynch, Landry, and Peterson - back to back to back- all three he could have sat on for a few rounds. No jokes here, just a bad draft. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Lets see if it pays off for him. *Everyone drafted on Paddock 9’s team - At least they’ll get to start in some league. *The Duck Punchers - All around winner. I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t get stuck in a pinch all year. I just hope he’s not too much of a dick about it. '''Commish's Comment: '''Other than drafting a kicker in like the third round, this was a soild autodraft. We better hit mama early and often because once Elliot gets back he is going to be a force. ---- Duck Punchers You Can't "C" Me: A Fuck Yahoo Tale. I entered this year's draft with one question in mind: what was the key to my 2014 championship? The answer? A fleet of top end receivers, a QB that can put up massive points and making the right moves on waivers. In my championship, the RBs I drafted would not have a chance with TLC (because they were all scrubs). The only one who made it to my end of year roster was Ryan Mathews. If you end up with a monopoly of top-end WRs, you can pretty much stream RBs and win it all. And that's what I'm set up to do. I am fully aware the final pieces to my championship goal aren't on my roster yet, they are the players who come join my squad when bye weeks start. THAT'S where I win, and that is what Yahoo and their bullshit grades/projections do not take into account. 3 wins? HA! Everyone in this league has played with me long enough to know I'm more likely to end up with that many losses. For now, I set my sights on London. The bridges may not be falling down, but the only fantasy team over there is about to. '''Commish's Comment: Before reading his assessment, I thought Duck Punchers waited way too long to grab a runningback. I don’t see a problem with missing the first three rounds, since the talent dropped off significantly in that range. But the 6th is really late to be taking your starter. Why not take a shot on a guy like Mixon, or use your 2nd to take EZ for the playoff push later in the year? But if this is all part of some master plan, let's see how it goes. There is a school of thought that when the pendulum seems to be swinging to RB, you have to go the other way with WR. And this is definitely a year where RB was the emphasis. ---- JarJar Stinks! Draft day was a fast-paced roller coaster of emotions! This was my first time witnessing the melee as last year I autodrafted my team. I enjoyed reading the trash talking that took place and sat back as a witness to it rather than a participant...this is due in part to earlier in the evening when Matt took anything I wrote and followed it with "Oh shit Pat, are you gonna take that?!" I look forward to our fantasy season and may the best team win!!...which will be Patrick's team. Commish's Comment: His draft day projections were 8-5. After releasing Gordon to his rightful owner that projection fell to 4-9. Burns was like the kid who didn't take notes in class and then showed up unprepared to the final exam. ---- RIPDab Finally, we have our teams. This year’s draft was awesome as always. There were a few great picks and a few pretty awful ones. Interesting that we had 3 blown out ACLs this week and all 3 were drafted. However, me grabbing Edelman in the last round was actually brilliant. Another example of my brain operating on another level than everyone else’s. It is tough to make moves early in the season because everyone obviously picked the guys they like. But once things start to get rolling we are really going to get some good insight. Enjoy the calm before the storm. Reach of the draft: Matt Bryant in the 8th Jar Jar Stinks Steal of the draft: Andrew Luck in the 16th Commish's Comment: Andrew Luck really was a steal for Sweet Dee. I'm guessing teams stayed away because of his health issues, which is fair. But a 16 for a QB who is potential top-five when healthy? I obviously really liked RIP's draft, because he kept stealing my picks. That being said, I think Montgomery in the 4th over Golden Tate is just plain dumb. Another example of Dab outsmarting himself. Also, what to do you know, Dab will once again be starting two RB's from the same team. He was in this trap for years in Cincy and he's right back at it again in Atlanta. ---- The Shotti Bunch I'll start with mine: Love that I was able to get two 100 catch WRs, while seemingly grabbing value after value pick at RB. I’m happy with my QB position (Matt Ryan) and defense as well (Arizona). Question mark at TE for me but Eiferts potential is through the roof. Gonna be another ground and pound year for me, I'll tell you that. McCoy, Gordon, Gurley, Lynch, Peterson, and even James white as a change of pace. About others drafts... Patrick's was god awful, I mean his roster says it all. Papa surprisingly had a solid draft I like his team. Chris has already been trying to work on a trade with me for a RB. He's very weak there but I like his WRs. Zach's got no RBs either. Never a good look when Duke Johnson is one of your starters. Jared...auto draft... enough said. Burns...felt like he auto drafted too. Nate's got a pretty solid team. So does the Commish; I expect a big year for CJ Anderson. Dees draft was pretty solid, too. I think me, Commish, and Nate had the best drafts. Commish's Comment: First of all, thank you for the kind words. Re2pect. I’m not sure what to think about Shotti being loaded at RB. I feel like Gurley at 10 was a reach (I think he has the value of a low-2nd rounder). That being said, I actually think he has more potentia than most of his other guys. There is no way Shotti is getting 2016 Gordon, 2016 McCoy, 2015 Gurley, prime-era Lynch and prime-era Peterson. Meanwhile, he's left himself vulnerable at WR. But he's the defending champ, so he's great until proven shitty. ---- Garoppoblow Me I'll just come right out and say it. I was really unhappy settling for Jordy Nelson in the 1st, especially because his value as a keeper was a 2nd. I spent the entire off-season convincing myself Jordy was old, about to lose another step, an injury risk, and not worth having. Now I have to hope I was wrong on a Matt-Jinx level. Mostly, I had my heart set on Evans, who I think could be the league's #1 receiver, and when he was kept by Burns my number two choice was AJ Green. The shockwaves sent by Duck when he took Green are astronomical. As it was projected, ODB going to Duck meant Freeman went 6th to P9, Green went 7th to me, and Nelson went 8th to RIP. What happened instead? Green went 5 to Duck, ODB went 6th to P9, Nelson went 7th to me, and Freeman went 8th to Dab. We’ll see how one choice directs the future of this season. Otherwise, I was pleased with my results. I always had eyes on Fournette at 2, Brady at 3, and Tate at 4. I was shocked it played out that way. I didn’t think Brady would still be around, and when he came up next to Kelce at the end of the 3rd I contemplated grabbing the TE. I’m glad I went with Brady even though RIP took Kelce immediately after. A quick text to Dab proved my suspicions: if I’d taken Kelce, Brady would have gone to Nate. I’ll take my chances with the GOAT. And like I said earlier, Tate at 4 was a no brainer. He has had three 90+ catch seasons in a row! My main concern is that I’m vulnerable at a lot of positions, with only one Def, one kicker, one TE, and one QB. My plan is to see how the first three weeks go with my guys and then trim the fat for some backups as the picture becomes clearer. Draft Poll Just a quick little exit poll . Conclusion Next week we will have our Week One Power Rankings and a matchup preview for our opening slate of games. I have to say, I did a pre-draft power rankings and after Sunday all of it is changing. I was shocked by some great drafts and disappointed in some horrible drafts. Below is a full transcript of our chat room from the draft so you can relive the drama of Pat taking a guy on IR and all the other action of draft night 2017. Complete Draft Chat Transcript Garoppoblow Me joined   Sweet Dee joined   'RIPDab joined  ' Paddock 9 joined    'RIPDab  'I want David johnson  'Garoppoblow Me  'can’t believe he's still available  RIPDab  He fell all the way to the first pick JarJar Stinks! joined   '''  Garoppoblow Me  '''HOLY SHIT IS THAT BURNS?  '''JarJar Stinks!  '''Haha. IT IS BURNS!   'Papa's Posse joined  ' ''' Paddock 9  '''Hey gus  '''RIPDab  '''Who is Gus?  '''Paddock 9  '''Great well my nights ruined  ''' Garoppoblow Me  '''Guys is anyone else seeing him or is it just me I swear Burns just spoke to me  ''' JarJar Stinks!  '''Pat, I have you winning this whole thing!  'RIPDab  'Burns is already wrong  'Garoppoblow Me  'Pat, you just gunna sit there and take that trashtalk from Burns?  ''' JarJar Stinks!  '''That's not trash talk!  '''JarJar Stinks!  '''I SPEAK ONLY IN TRUTHS!!  '''RIPDab  '''Now he is trash talking you Matt.   '''RIPDab  '''Burns wants blood  '''Garoppoblow Me  Wow. Move over Pat, new bad boy in town. '''The Shotti Bunch joined   'RIPDab  'Look who decided to show up  'Paddock 9 left  ' ' The Shotti Bunch  'Hello ladies  '''Garoppoblow Me  '''Shit, who invited Shotti?  'RIPDab  'I thought you were so scared you were going to quit shotti   'Paddock 9 joined  ' '''Papa's Posse  '''good luck guys. Can't wait to pick Jason Witten in first round!  'RIPDab  'Good pick in 2009  '''Paddock 9  '''GOT EM  '''Garoppoblow Me  '''That man has a family!...I should know.  Pain Train WOO WOO joined   '''  Pain Train WOO WOO  '''CHOO CHOO   'The Shotti Bunch left'   RIPDab  Yeah you better run  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'haha my teams already a train wreck  '''Garoppoblow Me  '''Pain Train scared Shotti away. THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD!  ''' Pain Train WOO WOO  '''finally took him down  'Paddock 9  'Ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten   'Garoppoblow Me  'There will be...zach's in this draft, right?  '''Paddock 9  '''He dead  ''' Paddock 9  '''Bullshit you can't gif in here   '''RIPDab  '''The Zach Memorial Bowl is born  ' Paddock 9  'IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN  'The Shotti Bunch joined  ' 'Garoppoblow Me  'Who is getting EZ?   'The Duck Punchers joined'   'Pain Train WOO WOO  'third overall  '''Garoppoblow Me  '''minutes away from the answer...  'Paddock 9  'And here.... we..... go..... Fuck all of you   'RIPDab  'Good luck every one  'RIPDab  'Hope all your teams suck  '''Pain Train WOO WOO  '''screw you shotti  'Papa's Posse  '1st '''D. Johnson '''Ari - RB   '''Paddock 9  '''BUST  ''' ma ma momma said  '''2nd '''L. Bell '''Pit - RB   'Pain Train WOO WOO  '3rd '''A. Brown '''Pit - WR   '''Sweet Dee  '''4th '''J. Jones '''Atl - WR   'The Duck Punchers  '5th '''A. Green '''Cin - WR   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''fuck you dude  '''Garoppoblow Me  '''lol  The Duck Punchers  :(  ' Paddock 9  '6th '''O. Beckham Jr. '''NYG - WR   ''' Garoppoblow Me  '''damn you all to hell  ''' Garoppoblow Me  '''7th '''J. Nelson '''GB - WR   '''RIPDab  '''8th '''D. Freeman '''Atl - RB   ' JarJar Stinks!  '9th '''D. Murray '''Ten - RB   ' The Shotti Bunch  '10th '''T. Gurley '''LAR - RB   ' Garoppoblow Me  'wow  ' Pain Train WOO WOO  'zeke now  '''Paddock 9  '''15th '''D. Cook '''Min - RB   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''early  'Paddock 9  'Who's earl?  'The Duck Punchers  'My name is earl  'Paddock 9  'Can you milk me?  'Pain Train WOO WOO  '18th '''A. Rodgers '''GB - QB   'Garoppoblow Me  'wow  '''RIPDab  '''33rd '''T. Montgomery '''GB - RB    'Garoppoblow' Me  34th '''G. Tate '''Det - WR   ''' Paddock 9  '''35th '''K. Allen '''LAC - WR   'Paddock 9  'SLOW DOWN GUYS  ''' The Duck Punchers  '''36th '''G. Olsen '''Car - TE   '''RIPDab  '''We are all just really excited  'The Duck Puncher's  why cant we send gifs in this chat?  '''  Paddock 9  '''We know we're all very mad  'ma ma momma said  '39th '''J. Mixon '''Cin - RB   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''wanted mixon  '''Paddock 9  '''RICHHHHHHARD MIXONNNNNN   '''Papa's Posse  '''41st '''L. Fitzgerald '''Ari - WR    '''Paddock '''9  Posse gonna posse  'Garoppoblow Me  'Knew Papa couldnt resist Larry  'Pain Train WOO WOO  '43rd '''M. Gillislee '''NE - RB   'The Shotti Bunch  'Love it Chris   '''Pain Train WOO WOO  '''someone needs to replace 300 carries   '''Pain Train WOO WOO  '''you took all the other RB  ''' JarJar Stinks!  '''49th '''E. Lacy '''Sea - RB   'Paddock 9  'Thank you burns   ''' RIPDab 53rd''' '''D. Parker '''Mia - WR   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''stole my pick  ''' Garoppoblow Me  '''nice  '''RIPDab  '''Nice  '''Paddock 9  '''Nice  ' Garoppoblow Me  '54th '''J. Crowder '''Was - WR   'The Duck Punchers  'boo  '''The Duck Punchers  '''56th '''K. Hunt '''KC - RB   'RIPDab  'Hunt was a robbery. Great pick  ' Garoppoblow Me  'love hunt  '''Paddock 9  '''BUST '''The Duck Punchers  '''shush pat  ' Papa's Posse  '60th '''K. Cousins '''Was - QB   'Garoppoblow Me  'love cousins too  'The Duck Punchers  'so thats why you moved south  ' Garoppoblow Me  'shout out Game of Thrones '''Paddock 9  '''66th '''S. Diggs '''Min - WR   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''And now we say goodbye to Paddock 9 for a while  'The Duck Punchers  'goodbye toby  '''Paddock 9  '''BYEEEEEE BYEEEEEEEEEEE PADDOCK NINEEEEEEEE  ' Paddock 9  'bye bye lil Sebastian style   ''' The Shotti Bunch  '''71st '''T. Eifert '''Cin - TE   ''' The Duck Punchers  '''damn you shotti!  ''' The Shotti Bunch  '''Is TJ housemada still playing ?  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'shhh hes my sleeper  'Duck Punchers  'hes on the oilers  'The Duck Punchers left  ' '''Garoppoblow Me  '''bye  'The Duck Punchers joined  ' 'Papa's Posse  '80th '''A. Thielen '''Min - WR   ' Pain Train WOO WOO  'love thielen  'The Duck Punchers  'feelin thielen  ''' ma ma momma said  '''82nd '''Denver '''DEF   'The Shotti Bunch  'Round 9?????  'Garoppoblow Me  'this autodrafting motherfucker  '''Garoppoblow Me '''pat trading for that defense coming soon  ' Paddock 9  'LOL  'The Duck Punchers  'hes already sent me offers  ' ma ma momma said  '86th '''S. Gostkowski '''NE - K   'The Shotti Bunch  'Wtf lol  ' Pain Train WOO WOO  'its minus 1 for a missed FG  ''' Garoppoblow Me  '''he's autodrafting lol  ''' The Duck Punchers  '''hes in england where they put kickers up on a pedestal   '''Paddock 9  '''What's jared doing matt?  'Garoppoblow Me  'sleeping  The Duck Punchers  awful early to be asleep  'Paddock 9  'True dat  '''RIPDab  '''93rd '''B. Marshall '''NYG - WR   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''fuckkkk youuuuuu  'ma ma momma said  '95th '''B. Roethlisberger '''Pit - QB   'Garoppoblow Me  'jared wasting all of pats traded picks  ' ma ma momma said  '99th '''C. Meredith '''Chi - WR   'The Shotti Bunch  'Haha out for season  '''The Duck Punchers  '''oof  ' Paddock 9  '102nd '''S. Ware '''KC - RB   '''Paddock 9  '''NO  '''Garoppoblow Me  '''nooo Pat!!!  '''Paddock 9  '''THATS NOT WHAT I HIT  'The Duck Punchers  'simple pat  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'lmaooo  'Paddock 9  'GOD DAMN MY PHONE  The Shotti Bunch  ����  ' Paddock 9  'I WANNA CRY  '''The Duck Punchers  ''' *die  ' Garoppoblow Me  'lol glad to have you picking again pat  '''Paddock 9  '''Hate myself  'The Shotti Bunch  '111th '''J. White '''NE - RB   'Pain Train WOO WOO  'love white  'Paddock 9  'Wow  'Paddock 9  'That's problimatic  ''' Pain Train WOO WOO  '''love any patriot really  '''RIPDab 113th''' '''Z. Jones '''Buf - WR   'Pain Train WOO WOO  'dammit  'RIPDab  'I reached a little  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'no you didnt i was gonna take him  'Paddock 9  '115th '''C. Coleman '''Cle - WR   '''The Duck Punchers  '''FUCK YOU PAT  '''The Duck Punchers  '''116th '''D. Johnson Jr. '''Cle - RB   '''Paddock 9  '''119th '''M. Forte '''NYJ - RB   'Sweet Dee  'closet Jets fan, Pat  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'is that the firt jet  '''Paddock 9  '''122nd '''R. Burkhead '''NE - RB   'The Duck Punchers  'FUCK YOU PAT  'Garoppoblow Me  'lol trying to cover his tracks now  '''The Duck Punchers  '''FUCKKKK  'Paddock 9  'UHHHH NO  '''The Duck Punchers  '''125th '''S. Perine '''Was - RB   'Garoppoblow Me  'I think you meant S.Vereen  'Paddock 9  '127th '''K. White '''Chi - WR   ' Paddock 9  'One of the bears two first round picks  'Garoppoblow Me  'If White learns how to play football again watch out  ''' Sweet Dee  '''137th '''Los Angeles '''DEF   '''Garoppoblow Me  '''you picked the wrong LA team  'Sweet Dee  'oops  '''Paddock 9  '''These are not the teams your looking for   'Sweet Dee  'this damn mac  '''  Garoppoblow Me  '''when did we lose burns?   '''The Shotti Bunch  '''14 rounds ago  ' Garoppoblow Me  'lol No not when did Burns lose his season, when did we lose burns there's a difference  '''RIPDab 153rd''' '''J. Edelman '''NE - WR   'Garoppoblow Me  'why man  'Paddock 9  'Nice Nate   ''' Paddock 9  '''Good tribute  ''' Pain Train WOO WOO  '''keeper eligable  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'i was gonna do it  'RIPDab  'I'm here to shock the world  'Garoppoblow Me  'shit Pain Train is right. Great keeper for 2018  'The Shotti Bunch  'You gotta believe    'Paddock 9 left  ' '''RIPDab  '''What do you mean pain train is right? I fuckin did it  ' The Shotti Bunch  'Who's gonna be me. Irrelevant ''' Papa's Posse  '''160th '''A. Hooper '''Atl - TE   ' Garoppoblow Me  'Hooper. Solid pick 'The Shotti Bunch  'Great upside   'The Duck Punchers  'more like great backside amirite  'Pain Train WOO WOO  'my team legit train wreck ill be looking up again sorrey to let the hype get to me Pain Train WOO WOO left